The future of schools and education generally: where do you see it going?

gaiscioch

Despite most industries from retail to factories undergoing enormous structural change in the past 40 years (primarily because of the technological revolution which we're living through), the future of schools is rarely if ever discussed in an Irish context. Globally, there must be such talk, but I'm currently unaware of it.

With these attempted moves towards assessment for school subjects, and the inevitable growth industry of people being paid to write up said assessments, what our education system, and especially our school system, will be like in 10, 20 or 40 years is more interesting.

I can't see schools being entirely replaced by online classes simply because schools are vital in socialising students and transmitting value systems for the state and society. If education were to move entirely online, I'd be interested in how people would replace the socialisation aspect of schools. However, I do see the role of the teacher as an educator declining for the brighter kids (who could work much out themselves with electronic resources).

In this regard, I can see electronic resources being shaped and developed hugely to teach more government-required skills so there's a ready-made workforce available quicker (to pay for the state's larger pension bills, for instance). A move away from the post-WW II stay in school longer, and return to leaving school at, say, 16 but this time with far more technological specialisation. These changes would be motivated by the financial decline of western societies, which has led to pre-WW II levels of inequality (c.f. Thomas Piketty), and the consequent financial and political growth of western corporations and wealthy individuals who set the agenda. I concede it all sounds a bit dystopian but I'm open to other views.

Are there any articles or studies you'd recommend about the future of schools and education?

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Apparently in Google they pay people to discuss seemingly silly ideas, in the hope of a few great ones - game changers - emerging. With that in mind, where do you see schools and education in the future?

evolving_doors

This guys physics musings are excellent but here's Veritasium's take on the nature of teaching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEmuEWjHr5c

amacca

When I seen the title of this thread my first response was...I think its going down the toilet.

A lot of the so called reforms and additional bureaucracy are making it harder to teach effectively while ignoring the real (but problematic and costly) issues facing teachers and hard working students imo....if proper disciplinary structures for the small minority of persistently disruptive pupils were put in place outcomes would improve imo...couple that with meaningful reductions in class sizes and proper resourcing and things would also improve. The system has too much tolerance and even rewards/panders to the lazy and disruptive at the expense of the majority imo

I suppose I see it deteriorating over the next 20-30 years then maybe stagnating before finally the right policies (imo) are implemented.


Where its going long term is a much more interesting question, e.g.: Who is to say we won't be able to ingest knowledge (including social skills etc) in the very long term (its not that crazy a notion) teachers could be entirely obsolete or they could be could be more like medical personnel prescribing certain courses of knowledge for certain career paths, or no different from a shop assistant handing out a box of tic tacs.......how would society decide who was worthy of the knowledge? would everyone receive all of it? would wealthy people be able to get access to more? would the pills you were given be based on your cognitive ability? - and thats just one admittedly far fetched idea.

Lets face it some of the advances in stem cell research, robotics, tissue engineering would look like witchcraft to someone who lived even 100 maybe even fifty years ago. (they are amazing to people right now when you show them or explain to them what is going on - even the less penetrable stuff like whats going on at CERN and what it means) Despite the video above we really could be on the cusp of a revolution (if we don't wipe ourselves out) Advances in machine learning coupled with all of the above really could revolutionise not just teaching but our society and in a smaller time frame than we think.

ustazjoseph

I dont like it but i see a couple of trends
lots of talk about the redundant " agricultural calender model " with calls for more teaching time - less breaks, holidays etc. ( You might think more childcare )
I expect a campaign for a new status of tutor / instructor /trainer or similiar in the FET sector. Blending of VEC teachers FE tutors/teachers and trainers . Some of us old guard might keep our conditions but the future will be year round aday and night teaching fro everyone.
An increase in the use of the "resource worker " in further ed some admin , some teaching ( on 15 bucks an hour ) and some policy development /community liaison / data management blah blah on small salary and a restricted payscale.
Or maybe a new govt who will adapt the finish model and let us get on with it .. maybe

katydid

ustazjoseph wrote: »

I dont like it but i see a couple of trends
lots of talk about the redundant " agricultural calender model " with calls for more teaching time - less breaks, holidays etc. ( You might think more childcare )
I expect a campaign for a new status of tutor / instructor /trainer or similiar in the FET sector. Blending of VEC teachers FE tutors/teachers and trainers . Some of us old guard might keep our conditions but the future will be year round aday and night teaching fro everyone.
An increase in the use of the "resource worker " in further ed some admin , some teaching ( on 15 bucks an hour ) and some policy development /community liaison / data management blah blah on small salary and a restricted payscale.
Or maybe a new govt who will adapt the finish model and let us get on with it .. maybe

The Solas concept is to produce results that provide employment; results that come from learning that doesn't lead to employment is seen as valueless. There is an attempt to bring FE into this mentality, which is very worrying, as all the work done bringing people back into education or even keeping them in it after their confidence is shattered by the normal system will be out the door. That's something we must be very careful of.

amacca

katydid wrote: »

The Solas concept is to produce results that provide employment; results that come from learning that doesn't lead to employment is seen as valueless. There is an attempt to bring FE into this mentality, which is very worrying, as all the work done bringing people back into education or even keeping them in it after their confidence is shattered by the normal system will be out the door. That's something we must be very careful of.

Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to me a business model is being shoehorned into an area it has no right to be in. A similar kind of business model to the one that lead to reckless short term gain driven lending with no regard for the long term.

rainbowtrout

katydid wrote: »

The Solas concept is to produce results that provide employment; results that come from learning that doesn't lead to employment is seen as valueless. There is an attempt to bring FE into this mentality, which is very worrying, as all the work done bringing people back into education or even keeping them in it after their confidence is shattered by the normal system will be out the door. That's something we must be very careful of.

Totally agree. We have an online system for Solas now where we input our stats every few months, on students enrolled, predicted completions, predicted number of full certs.

I was bemused 3 months ago when I had to not only fill in the predicted certs for May (which I can do reasonably accurately), but I also had to provide a predicted enrolment for September (how the hell am I supposed to know that?) and also a predicted number of completions, certs etc for the 15/16 academic year.

How in the name of god is anyone supposed to predict next years results when you don't even know how many students are going to be sitting in front of you and what their ability is?

Worrying this is if centres are not seen to be producing the right number of certs or have the right number of completions they won't be allowed to continue running courses. :mad:

evolving_doors

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Totally agree. We have an online system for Solas now where we input our stats every few months, on students enrolled, predicted completions, predicted number of full certs.

I was bemused 3 months ago when I had to not only fill in the predicted certs for May (which I can do reasonably accurately), but I also had to provide a predicted enrolment for September (how the hell am I supposed to know that?) and also a predicted number of completions, certs etc for the 15/16 academic year.

How in the name of god is anyone supposed to predict next years results when you don't even know how many students are going to be sitting in front of you and what their ability is?

Worrying this is if centres are not seen to be producing the right number of certs or have the right number of completions they won't be allowed to continue running courses. :mad:

Is it a subtle way of implying that if you don't get the correct numbers in (namely more than this year!) and you don't reach your 'improvement targets' (better results next year), then your centre is in jeopardy.

I thought they would have learned that lesson from FAS!!

...The troubling disclosure comes just a month after this newspaper revealed that a tutor with a FAS-contracted company manipulated assessments so students who failed could be given pass grades...

katydid

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Totally agree. We have an online system for Solas now where we input our stats every few months, on students enrolled, predicted completions, predicted number of full certs.

I was bemused 3 months ago when I had to not only fill in the predicted certs for May (which I can do reasonably accurately), but I also had to provide a predicted enrolment for September (how the hell am I supposed to know that?) and also a predicted number of completions, certs etc for the 15/16 academic year.

How in the name of god is anyone supposed to predict next years results when you don't even know how many students are going to be sitting in front of you and what their ability is?

Worrying this is if centres are not seen to be producing the right number of certs or have the right number of completions they won't be allowed to continue running courses. :mad:

A friend of mine who works in FE in England told me that the funding for his college depend on results, so he finishes students' projects for them, because otherwise his results would be unsatisfactory, and both the course, and his job, would be on the line. He was with me one summer when my vice-principal rang to ask my advice on a student who had failed and was thinking of appealing. My English friend said that in his case, he would have been rung to be asked why he had allowed the student to fail.
I said we'd never see that kind of thing here, but I'm not so sure anymore.